Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to the field of data manipulation and storage. More specifically, the invention relates to devices that manipulate and store image, sound, and associated metadata.
Description of Related Art
In the entertainment industry, the video tape recorder (“′VTR”) has served for many years as the main device for storing video and accompanying audio. However, there is a need for an apparatus that provides capabilities beyond those offered by the VTR. In particular, there is a need for an apparatus that can store data on network-accessible mass storage devices, e.g., disk drives. Additionally, there is a need for an apparatus that can transcode data between different data formats. Accordingly, there is a need for an apparatus that can store data on network-accessible storage devices and transcode data between formats. The present invention satisfies these needs.